Awards to highlight manual handling innovations

Organisations that have created new ways to prevent injuries caused by manual handling are being encouraged to share their innovations by entering the 2016 WorkSafe Victoria Awards.

Now in its 28th year, the program includes nine health and safety categories, including for the first time a ‘Best Solution to a Manual Handling Issue’ category.

According to WorkSafe, manual handling is Victoria’s most common cause of workplace injury, accounting for almost 40% of all injuries reported. In 2015, more than 10,000 Victorian workers suffered injuries caused by poor or awkward manual handling.

“Thousands of workers suffer the debilitating effects of back strains and sprains, as well as muscle and ligament damage, caused by lifting heavy or awkward objects or lifting objects over and over again. This is a great opportunity to acknowledge innovative ways of making workplaces safer,” said Finance Minister Robin Scott.

He said businesses with creative ways to reduce these types of injuries can reach a much wider audience by entering the awards program and encouraged them to do so.

WorkSafe Chief Executive Clare Amies said it was important to recognise new solutions to an age-old issue that continued to affect all industries.

“Awkward or poor manual handling affects employees in every type of workplace — from retail assistants lifting and moving boxes of stock every day and construction workers using tools repetitively, to healthcare workers moving patients in and out of hospital beds,” said Amies.

“Great health and safety stories inspire others to do more to make workplaces safer. By entering the awards, their ideas can be shared across their industry and with other workplaces across the state.”

To view the categories and enter the awards, visit www.worksafeawards.com.au. Entries close on 30 June. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony during WorkSafe Health and Safety Month in October.